Things to do in Crossville, TN - Tennessee's Hidden Treasure

What do you get someone who has everything? My answer - A day in Crossville, Tennessee. My mom's birthday and Father's day falls at about the same time and I was faced with the usual "what do I get them" dilemma. They are in their 70's, and they really don't need anything, so I invested in time. I surfed the net and surveyed friends to try to find the perfect day trip. Nothing seemed to fit a place I could take my 3 kids (pre-teen & teenage) and two senior citizens who struggle to get around. Well, I started with the one thing I knew. They enjoy music, air-conditioning, and sitting; so I centered my trip around Crossville, Tennessee's Cumberland County Playhouse.

The Cumberland County Playhouse is the only major non-profit professional performing arts resource in rural Tennessee, and one of the 10 largest professional theaters in rural America. It serves more than 145,000 visitors annually with two indoor and two outdoor stages. The workers are helpful and friendly and the shows are amazing. The actors are brilliantly talented singers and dancers. The shows are very impressive. You'll soon forget you are in rural Tennessee. We saw Oklahoma and plan to go back to see Chicago this fall.

From where we live, Crossville is a 2-hour drive. It's about 70 miles west of Knoxville and about an 1.5 hours north of Chattanooga. if we were going to drive 2 hours, we had to do more than see a play. We stumbled upon a gem - The Minister's Treehouse. This treehouse was built by Horace Burgess in 1993. He feels he was led by God to build this treehouse. Horace said God would see that he never ran out of materials if he built this treehouse which is 97 feet tall with 10 stories supported by an 80-foot tall white oak tree. About half-way up there is a chapel with church pews and even a basketballl court. You can ring the bells if you climb to the highest level which is topped by a chime tower weighing 5,700 pounds; the chimes are made from 10 oxygen acetylene bottles. I actually chose the treehouse becasue of my kids. I wanted them to have a little something to enjoy that day. Turns out my dad can't quit talking about it. Both parents even got about halway up to sit in the chapel as we journeyed on to the top. And if that's not enough, incredibly, it was free. There is a donation box, and I highly enourage you to make a donation on your visit.

When you have a day trip, you have to eat. We were clueless as to where to go for lunch. My only requirement was that it had to be country cooking. I had three recommendations: The Cookie Jar (which is actually in Dunlap, TN - about an hour from Crossville, but on our route); Cumberland Mountain State Park (about 15 minutes from Cumberland County Playhouse) and Family Ties. At the state park there's lots to do - fishing at the lake, playground, hiking, swimming, and the restaurant comes highly recommended. It is buffet style. We didn't choose that option, but I don't think you could go wrong eating there. We chose Family Ties. It's a country kitchen. It's rather small, but the service was good and the workers were friendly. The food was typical country vegetables and a meat along with several sandwich options and even home-made desserts.

We had a few minutes to kill before showtime so we stopped by Simonton's Cheese & Gourmet House. This company is named as one of the top 50 gift basket companies in the country. You can sample a ton of cheeses and sauces and even get a cold drink while you're there.

I should also mention that Crossville is the golf capital of Tennessee. We didn't take advantage of golfing on our outing, but we did have a great day that was enjoyed by a couple of feeble senior citizens all the way down to 3 hard to please kids.